News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

New mysteries for June include David Hewson’s novel length adaptation of the popular Danish crime series ‘The Killing’; a new Swedish mystery from Ake Edwardson; R.J. Ellory’s latest thriller; Charles Todd’s new Bess Crawford mystery; and two new début authors…

The killing / David Hewson.
“This adaption of ‘The Killing’ is a huge success…So how does it survive this possibly awkward transmutation? The answer, in short, is extremely well. David Hewson – the author of more than a dozen detective novels set in Italy and with no need to stoop to anything too hurriedly commercial – has taken what was television gold and turned it into literary gold. Indeed he has done it so well that his book is now being translated and readied for publication in Danish….The publisher makes much of the fact that instead of sitting in front of his telly with one finger on the pause button and the other on his keyboard, Hewson went to Copenhagen and ‘constructed with’ Soren Sveistrupp, the series script writer. What has emerged from their meetings is really very interesting…His (Hewson’s) take is as valid as yours or mine. It creates an odd dynamic between author and reader which I rather liked…This is one of the most engrossing detective novels I’ve read in a long time’ –The Daily Telegraph, 5-Star Review…” (Description from Amazon.co.uk)

Sail of stone / êAke Edwardson ; translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles.
“In his sixth outing (after The Shadow Woman), Erik Winter investigates two missing-person cases in Gothenburg, Sweden. One involves the disappearance of an old girlfriend’s father, who traveled to Scotland to search for his own father, presumed to have died during World War II. When the missing man is found dead, Winter goes to Scotland to determine whether wartime smuggling activities played a part in this case. In an unrelated story line, Winter’s colleague Anetja Djanali investigates a case of possible domestic abuse. The more she tries to contact the possible victim, the more she is stonewalled by the woman’s family….Fans of Scandinavian mysteries, especially those who like Camilla Lackberg, Kjell Eriksson, and HAkan Nesser, will enjoy adding this award-winning author to their reading list…” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

A dark and broken heart / R.J. Ellory.
“It should have all been so easy for Vincent Madigan. Take four hundred grand from the thieves who stole it in the first place and who could they turn to for help? Madigan is charming, resourceful, and knows how to look after himself. The only problem is that he’s up to his neck in debt to Sandia – the drug king of East Harlem. This one heist will free Madigan from Sandia’s control and give him the chance he needs to get his life back on track. But things go wrong when Madigan is forced to kill his co-conspirators and a child is shot in the crossfire. Now both Sandia and the collected might of the NYPD are hunting him down, and the one cop assigned to lead the case is the very last person he could have expected. Employing every deception and ruse he can think of, Madigan must stay one step ahead in a battle of wits that will test him to his limits. Can he evade justice for his crimes, or will his own conscience be his final undoing?…” (From Syndetics summary)

The priest : a novel / Gerard O’Donovan.
“From the most riveting writer to come out of Ireland since John Connolly, the first in a series of Dublin-based thrillers introducing Inspector Mike Mulcahy, who is pitched into a deadly battle with a religion-obsessed serial killer..Struggling to find his feet back in Ireland after a lengthy posting with Europol in Spain, drugs specialist Mike Mulcahy is plunged into unfamiliar territory when the daughter of a politician suffers a horrific sex attack. Dragged into the case against his will, Mulcahy becomes convinced there is more to it than a random frenzied sexual assault, especially when he discovers that the weapon used by the attacker to torture the victim was a crucifix…Sidelined and overruled, Mulcahy sets about his own investigation, but frustrations abound at every turn—until reporter Siobhan Fallon turns up asking awkward questions. As more young women are attacked and assault turns to murder, Mulcahy and Fallon are drawn into an uneasy alliance, and each step they take hurtles them ever closer to the monstrous killer known only as The Priest and a final showdown that is as explosive as it is unforgettable…” (Description adapted from Amazon.com)

Monkey wrench : a quilting mystery / Terri Thayer.
“Dewey Pellicano continues to transform her late mother’s quilt shop, making her own mark with contemporary trends. She’s worried about her employees, college student Vangie and part-time instructor Pearl, who is newly widowed and floundering with old age. When Vangie’s shady boyfriend ends up dead of an overdose, Vangie calls Dewey for help. At the same time, Pearl hires a part-time caretaker through a campus-advertised service that sounds too good to be true. It is, because the students are using their senior clientele as a front for a prescription pill mill. When another death occurs, Dewey senses a pattern, and she’s not about to let it go any further. VERDICT This engaging and thought-provoking fourth entry (after Ocean Waves) in Thayer’s excellent quilting series is an easy-to-recommend cozy with its likeable characters, loyal cop boyfriend, and community of quilters…” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

In her blood / Annie Hauxwell.
“It’s not that easy to kick the money habit. After the world meltdown forces London’s bankers to go cold turkey, people look elsewhere for a quick quid: the old fashioned East End. So when investigator Catherine Berlin gets an anonymous tip-off about a local loan shark, the case seems straightforward – until her informant is found floating in the Limehouse Basin. In another part of town, a notorious doctor is murdered in his surgery, and his entire stock of pharmaceutical heroin stolen. An unorthodox copper is assigned to the case, and Berlin finds herself a reluctant collaborator in a murder investigation. Now Berlin has seven days to find out who killed her informant, why the police are hounding her and, most urgently of all, where to find a new – and legal – supply of the drug she can’t survive without. Smart, stylish and fast-paced, In Her Blood heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction…” (Syndetics summary)

Freezing / Clea Koff.
“Forensic anthropologists and best friends Steelie Lander and Jayne Hall operate Agency 32/1, a Los Angeles nonprofit that creates forensic profiles of missing persons. Their work is difficult but rewarding. When body parts are found on the side of a freeway, FBI agent Scott Houston asks Jayne and Steelie for help in identifying the victim, or victims. The women soon become entangled in Houston’s pursuit of a serial killer. Koff, a forensic anthropologist who identified bodies in Rwanda and the Balkans (as recounted in her gripping memoir The Bone Woman), fills her debut thriller with fascinating true-to-life forensic details. She also steadily builds the suspense to the climactic twist. Verdict Koff has written a procedural with emotional depth. Readers who enjoy Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs won’t want to miss this…” (Adapted from Syndetics summary)

An unmarked grave / Charles Todd.
“Set in the spring of 1918, bestseller Todd’s outstanding fourth Bess Crawford mystery (after 2011’s A Bitter Truth) finds the British nurse and her co-workers in France contending with the Spanish influenza epidemic as well as battlefield carnage. When the number of flu victims kept in a shed before burial is one more than the official count, Bess is shocked to discover the corpse of Maj. Vincent Carson, who once served in her father’s old regiment, in the shed. That the major’s neck is broken suggests that his body was dumped amid the flu victims to conceal his murder. Before Bess can act on her suspicions, she catches the dread disease herself, leaving the trail to the truth even fainter on her recovery. Caroline and Charles Todd, the mother-son team who write as Charles Todd, remain unmatched in their ability to convey the horrors of trench warfare and the effect on its participants…”(Adapted from Syndetics summary)